Thanksgiving dinner ingredients will cost more this year compared with last, even as food inflation cools. Fortunately, there’s one simple way to save money without skimping on staple dishes for the food-driven holiday: store brands.

Buying store-brand items versus national brand products is an age-old technique for saving money. And although there are instances of store-brand goods costing more than their name-brand counterparts, they can still save consumers money overall, new research from Wells Fargo shows. 

How much can I save on store brands?

“Food inflation has slowed dramatically, but it’s still not cheaper than a year ago, so that’s a bone of contention from consumers,” Wells Fargo chief agricultural economist Dr. Michael Swanson told CBS MoneyWatch. 

Still, grocery stores can undercut national brand prices by selling their own version of products from tissues to baked beans. Stores allege their products are equally good, but because they don’t market them, they can sell them at a relative discount.

“The whole premise is that store brand represents a value to you. What store brand is supposed to bring is the same quality, same product, without all the marketing,” Swanson said. “Brands explain why you should eat theirs and not someone else’s, whereas stores don’t spend money and are supposed to pass the savings along to us, the consumers.”

This year, a store-brand Thanksgiving menu for 10 people, including turkey, stuffing, salad, cranberries, dinner rolls and pumpkin pie will cost consumers $73. That same menu made with name-brand products, will cost $90 this year, or $17 more, according to the Wells Fargo report. 

The $73 price tag is up 2.7% from last year. 

Keep your eye on all items — not just the turkey

Grocers tend to run promotions on turkeys around Thanksgiving, given that they’re such a seasonal purchase — the two-week window before the Thanksgiving holiday is when grocers make the bulk of their whole turkey sales. 

But buyers beware: Some retailers can lure you into the store with a deal on a turkey, only to sell you other items at high prices. 

“Retailers will feature discounts on turkey to get you into store so that, while you’re there, you’ll pick up everything else,” Swanson said. “Make sure you don’t just go in for the turkey and not pay attention to prices of other things on the shopping list, which can add up to a lot of money.” 

Store-brand stuffing mixes are still priced high, but are an opportunity for savings nevertheless. Name-brand stuffing is up 9% compared with the same period last year, and store-brand stuffing is up 3%. 

Cranberries are an outlier this season. It’s a category in which the name-brand product is priced lower than the store-brand alternative. A 12-ounce bag of name-brand fresh cranberries is down 3% compared with 2023, while the same-size bag of store-brand cranberries is up 6%. 

President-elect Donald Trump’s criminal conviction should be tossed out because he was elected president, his lawyers say.

In a filing Wednesday, defense attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove — both slated to take on senior roles under Trump in the federal Department of Justice — wrote to the judge who presided over Trump’s criminal trial that his conviction must be set aside.

“Immediate dismissal of this case is mandated by the federal Constitution, the Presidential Transition Act of 1963, and the interests of justice, in order to facilitate the orderly transition of Executive power following President Trump’s overwhelming victory in the 2024 Presidential election,” Blanche and Bove wrote.

Trump was convicted in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection with a coverup of a “hush money” payment made before his first election to office in 2016. But he has not been sentenced. That crucial hearing was postponed twice: first to allow his team to seek dismissal based on a July Supreme Court presidential immunity decision, and later to avoid interrupting the campaign for president.

Now that Trump has won the election, his attorneys are arguing that means he can’t be punished for his crimes, even before he takes office. 

“Just as a sitting President is completely immune from any criminal process, so too is President Trump as President-elect,” they wrote. “Federal law provides for the ‘orderly transfer of Executive powers in connection with the expiration of the term of office of a President and the inauguration of a new President.'”

Trump’s lawyers had previously indicated in letters to the Justice Juan Merchan and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg that they intended to pursue this latest dismissal of his case. On Tuesday, prosecutors wrote to the judge to say while they won’t oppose postponing sentencing — potentially even until after Trump’s term in office is complete in 2029 — they do intend to fight dismissal of the case.

“Consideration must be given to various non-dismissal options that may address any concerns raised by the pendency of a post-trial criminal proceeding during the presidency, such as deferral of all remaining criminal proceedings until after the end of defendant’s upcoming presidential term,” prosecutors wrote.

Immediately after a unanimous jury found Trump guilty in May, he swore he’d fight the conviction. 

The jury found that Trump committed 34 felonies as part of a plan he signed off on, in which a series of reimbursements to Michael Cohen, his former attorney and fixer, were portrayed as payments for legal services. They were in fact repayments for a $130,000 wire payment Cohen made to the lawyer of an adult film star days before the 2016 presidential election. The payment was made so that the actress, Stormy Daniels, would refrain from going public about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump just before voters were heading to the polls.

Trump entered a not guilty plea in the case, denies any wrongdoing and says he never had sex with Daniels.